The bedroom of the old house was filled with ambiguous morning light, cascading onto Margaret's body like a waterfall. She buried her head between her knees, her long black hair covering her face, and only a pair of white feet were exposed under her nightgown. Lin Hai rubbed his eyes, and Margaret seemed to have turned from an oil painting into a black and white photo.
Lin Hai carefully walked down the attic and came to Margaret's side, reaching out to gently touch her hair and asking, "What's wrong with you?"
She obediently let Lin Hai touch her until she slowly raised her head, opening her translucent emerald eyes and said pitifully, "Because I don't know, I don't know..."
"Not know what?"
Margaret stared into his eyes, her lips trembling for a while before she said, "I don't know which day, which hour, which minute, we won't be together anymore. I will be locked back into the painting and you will lose your life."
The words were so poignant that Lin Hai shuddered again. He quickly shook his head and said, "No, Nostradamus won't come, and I won't leave you."
"I just had a dream, and I dreamed that...you died."
Lin Hai's heart sank even more, but he still tried to control himself and murmured, "Margaret, as long as you're here, I won't die."
More than saying this to Margaret, he was trying to boost his own courage.
Margaret finally got out of bed and looked out the window. "Are you really still alive?"
"Of course, I'm alive and well."
Lin Hai checked the doors and windows again and then hurried out to buy breakfast and lunch.
After they silently finished their breakfast, Lin Hai didn't say a word, just picked up his backpack and was about to go to school. Margaret suddenly pulled him from behind. Lin Hai stood motionless for a long time and whispered, "Let go of me. I'll be back this afternoon. Please trust me."
After a moment of silence, Margaret finally let go of her hand, and Lin Hai hurriedly walked out of the old house.
On the way to school, Lin Hai was always restless - he didn't know how this matter would end, didn't know when Nostradamus would appear, and didn't know if he would die because of it. Even if the terrible ghost never appeared again, even if he managed to escape the danger, what about Margaret? She couldn't be "hidden" in the old house forever. Lin Hai felt like a helpless drowning man, slowly sinking with the vortex.
If there was still hope now, it was in that roll of parchment - the parchment that might be hidden under the tiger window, and had some connection with the portrait on the attic from ten years ago. Once the contents of the parchment were deciphered, more clues could be found, such as Margaret's questions, and the mysterious old house and attic.
Yes, the biggest hope at the moment was not on Lin Hai's side, but in Paris, on the other side of the Eurasian continent, with the writer he had placed his hopes on. He had sent an email yesterday, hopefully they had already seen it, if not, he would have to make an international call to Paris, no matter the cost.
Lost in thought, Lin Hai had already arrived at the university campus. Oops, he was already late for the first class of the morning. He hurriedly ran towards the teaching building, and as he passed the entrance of the school's chapel, he suddenly stopped.The small auditorium is a Soviet-style building constructed in the 1950s. Lin Hai speculated that it was probably designed by the same person who designed the library. This was once a venue for major events at the university, but with the expansion of the university, new large auditoriums and school theaters were built one after another, and this place became much quieter and gradually forgotten by many people.
At this moment, there was no one around, and the side door of the small auditorium was open, revealing a dim light inside. Since he was already late, Lin Hai decided to go inside and take a look. He quietly walked into the side door and saw that the small auditorium was empty, with a lot of dust on the floor.
He was looking for that painting...Thank goodness, the painting was still there, hanging on the wall.
This was the reason why Lin Hai entered the small auditorium, because this painting was his grandfather's work.
The oil painting was hanging high on the wall, over two meters wide and over one meter high. The painting depicted a golden wheat field, with a middle-aged peasant woman sitting on a field ridge, holding a two or three-year-old child in her arms.
The name of this painting was "Mother".
Lin Hai remembered that when he was very young, his grandfather brought him to the school and specifically brought him to the small auditorium to see this painting. His grandfather also said meaningfully, "Take a good look and don't forget her."
Perhaps his grandfather wanted little Lin Hai to remember his deceased mother.
Since the 1950s, Lin Hai's grandfather had been a teacher in the university's art department. He said he was an unsuccessful painter and could only be a humble teaching craftsman all his life. He painted this painting in 1955, and it took him six months to complete, including three months of labor in the countryside. He was obviously inspired by the peasant woman, which led to this large oil painting named "Mother". Due to ideological reasons, the school principal at that time liked this painting very much and hung it here as a decoration when the small auditorium was completed. It hung here for a long fifty years until it was gradually forgotten, and the person who painted it had already passed away.
Although this painting is full of the ideological context of that era, the golden wheat field in the painting still gives people a visual impact, and the thick ink and heavy colors are reminiscent of Van Gogh's style. The female protagonist in the painting is plain and strong. Does such a mother symbolize the infinite vitality of the Chinese countryside?
Everyone can interpret a painting in their own way.
Lin Hai sighed lightly, said goodbye to the painting left by his grandfather, and left the quiet small auditorium.
The morning class was taught by Teacher Wenger, and this was the first time Lin Hai was late for Teacher Wenger's class. After class, Teacher Wenger wanted to ask him, but Lin Hai avoided him and ran away, because his mind was all messed up and he didn't know what to say. He was especially afraid that he would leak out something and reveal Marguerite.
After lunch, he immediately returned to the dormitory to prepare to bring some daily necessities back to the old house. When he stuffed those things into his backpack, he suddenly felt a hard object inside the bag. It turned out to be a disc with no text or logo.
Lin Hai then remembered that on the night of his first visit to the Western Art Museum, he met a man in black outside the library and unexpectedly obtained this DVD.
There was a movie called "Queen Margot" on it, as well as the last words of Marguerite.Yes, a few days ago Lin Hai overlooked this detail and kept the DVD in his backpack. What's the deal with this DVD? Was the man in black real or just an illusion?
Let's play it again! Lin Hai immediately took the mysterious DVD to the student union, where there was a room that could play discs. Since no one was around at noon, he quickly put the DVD into the machine.
The movie "Queen Margot" appeared on the TV screen as expected. To save time, Lin Hai pressed the fast forward button on the remote control, and the two-hour movie finished quickly.
After the credits of "Queen Margot," the DVD ended, and Margaret didn't appear on the screen. What's going on? Lin Hai rewound the movie and played it again, but Margaret still didn't show up. The movie ended, and the DVD had such a small capacity. He also watched the making-of part of the movie, but Margaret didn't appear there either. It was just an ordinary movie disc.
Where did Margaret, who asked for help in the DVD, go?
Lin Hai was a little confused, and the words "aider moi!" were still like a scar of shame in his left palm. Could it all be non-existent?
Perhaps the on-duty teacher who he called out on that night was right. It was his own fabrication, his own delusion? Maybe the man in black didn't exist at all, and the "aider moi" written in his palm was something Lin Hai wrote with a special pigment.
As for why the DVD of "Queen Margot" was in Lin Hai's pocket, the reason might be simple: he happened to find the movie on a disc stand on the way back to school that day and put it in his pocket.
But how to explain Margaret's plea for help on the DVD?
There are only two possibilities: either the plea for help never existed, and it was Lin Hai's illusion or a memory error, or Margaret did ask for help. She found Lin Hai in the mirror of the secret room, and then through the mirror (for Lin Hai, it was the oil painting), input some kind of plea for help information into Lin Hai's brain, causing him to have all kinds of illusions and fantasies that night, and thus discovered the plea for help information that Margaret transmitted to him.
So why can't he see it now?
According to the above logic, since Margaret has escaped from the oil painting, the plea for help at the end of the disc is meaningless, so Lin Hai can't see it.
Lin Hai couldn't use normal reasoning to judge, but this matter had already gone beyond logic and couldn't be faced with normal human thinking.
It was already after one o'clock in the afternoon, and someone would come to the student union soon, so Lin Hai quickly withdrew the DVD from the machine and left quietly.
Since it was an elective course in the afternoon, he left school early and hurried back to the old house.
Lin Hai kept his promise and returned at the agreed-upon time. Margaret was anxiously waiting for him, "I thought you weren't coming back."
She changed into a white dress that she bought at a small shop on the street yesterday, which looked simple and matched her snow-white skin and black hair. It seemed that women's aesthetic hearts were the same whether it was in the sixteenth century or the twenty-first century.
Lin Hai felt a sense of inexplicable exhaustion. Although he had a lot to say, he couldn't say a word at the moment and could only sit there quietly.
"In the morning, I found something under the bed... "
Margaret picked up a few old books and placed them on the table, stirring up a thin layer of dust. Lin Hai finally regained his composure and saw that the books were all French editions, seemingly from a long time ago. He first opened the thickest book, only to find that it was Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time," published by Pascal in Paris in 1930. This was the first time Lin Hai had seen a French edition book from the 1930s, and it was Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time." What was even more important was a line of Chinese characters written on the book's inner page -
"Lin Danqing, purchased in Paris in the 24th year of the Republic of China."
These words were like a brand stamped into Lin Hai's eyes, and he was suddenly stunned, muttering two words under his breath, "Grandpa! Paris!"
He spoke these two words in Chinese, so Margaret didn't understand and asked, "What did you say?"
Lin Hai slowly turned around and pointed to the Chinese characters on the book's page, answering her in French, "Lin Danqing is my grandfather's name, 'The 24th year of the Republic of China' is 1935, and this book was purchased by him in Paris in 1935."
"Did your grandfather go to Paris?"
"I don't know. Grandpa always lived in this old house until he passed away ten years ago. I remember that when Grandpa was alive, he never talked about his youth. I only knew that he studied art and later became an art teacher in college."
He flipped through the other old books, all published in France during the 1930s, including Stendhal's "The Red and the Black," Alexandre Dumas' "Queen Margot" and "The Lady of Monsoreau," Maupassant's "A Life," and two books on art that Lin Hai couldn't recall the authors' names.
In each of these books, there was Lin Danqing's signature, as well as the time and place of purchase. The purchase dates were all between 1933 and 1936, and the places were mostly Paris, except for "A Life," which was bought in Lyon.
"These books were all purchased by your grandfather in France?"
Lin Hai could only nod and say, "Yes, it seems that my grandfather really went to France in the 1930s."
Four hundred years ago, there was no Alexandre Dumas or Marcel Proust in France, so Margaret had never heard of these writers and their works. She asked in confusion, "What are these books about?"
"History, love, childhood, destiny..."
Lin Hai's lips moved, uttering a few important French words.
"There seems to be a book about painting too?"
"Yes, my grandfather studied art when he was young. It seems that he studied abroad in France back then." However, Lin Hai lowered his head in confusion. "But why didn't Grandpa ever mention such an important thing? And if Grandpa had studied in France, he would have spoken fluent French, but in my childhood memories, Grandpa never said a word in English and didn't show any traces of French culture. I couldn't tell he had ever been abroad. As for why I chose to study French, I wasn't influenced by Grandpa at all. When I chose to take French in middle school, Grandpa had already passed away for several years."
When Margaret couldn't figure it out, she asked her question: "But I don't understand, if China is so great, why go to France to study?"
Lin Hai could only smile bitterly and replied: "You don't know the history after 1574. Although ancient China was very glorious, since the 19th century, China has become very backward and has been bullied by many countries, including your France. In order to change China's backwardness, we must learn from advanced countries like yours. Therefore, many Chinese students have gone to your country since the late 19th century, and it's still like this today."
"It's hard to imagine. In my time, France was so weak, facing division and civil strife, while the far East was full of charm, and God favored you Chinese so much. I never thought that after more than four hundred years, the world would be turned upside down."
"Forget about that, this matter is too complicated." He packed up the books and put them in a small box next to the bed, "If you find it too boring, you can take one to read."
"In fact, I've already flipped through one of them just now." She suddenly lowered her head and bit her lip, "That book is called 'Queen Margot'."
Lin Hai's heart trembled suddenly. The protagonist of Alexandre Dumas' "Queen Margot" was not the historical figure Marguerite? What would a person feel when they see their name appear in a classic historical novel and become the main character of the novel?
He stared at Margaret's eyes and asked, "How much of the book did you read?"
"I read the first few dozen pages. The person in the book seems to be me, my mother, my brothers, and..."
She stopped suddenly, seeming to have stirred up some painful memories. Lin Hai knew who she was about to mention, and he didn't want to hear that name again.
"That's enough. This is just a novel. The content is all made up by the novelist, even historical novels are not equal to history. It can only be said to be the personal creation of Alexandre Dumas. Don't take those things in the book seriously."
Margaret's tone became more and more sad, but she tried hard to control her emotions. "Although, for the era I was born in, this is a book written by someone more than two hundred years later. But it is precisely this book that awakened some of my memories and made me unable to extricate myself..."
"Forget about it, let's watch TV for a while."
Lin Hai deliberately changed the subject, picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. Although everything on the TV was in Chinese, Margaret didn't understand a word, but she still looked very focused, just like when we watch the original version without subtitles.
At dusk, Lin Hai went out to buy dinner. This time, he didn't buy Western fast food, but deliberately bought two sets of Chinese food. He wanted Margaret to taste the taste of Chinese food. In addition, he also went to the supermarket to buy tape, nails, hammers, and other tools. These things would come in handy tonight.
He didn't let Margaret wait long, and returned to the old house as quickly as possible. The food was still steaming hot.
What pleased Lin Hai was that Margaret only ate a few bites and deeply fell in love with Chinese food. No wonder there are Chinese restaurants wherever there are Chinese people, even the French princess four hundred years ago was conquered. It turned out that Chinese food was the "universal truth that can be applied to all corners of the world."
With Lin Hai's help, Margaret tried to use chopsticks, but after a few attempts, she grabbed a spoon again, which made her smile rare. Lin Hai also wanted to laugh, but he couldn't, because he felt that this happiness was too short-lived, like an unreal dream.
Watching Margaret eat, he suddenly thought of a painting - "The Last Supper." Maybe Nochadamus would appear tonight, and this would be their last supper together?
After finishing the meal, Margaret forgot her status as a princess and licked her lips, saying, "This is probably the best dinner I've had in over four hundred years."
Lin Hai had finished eating long ago, and he walked to the window and looked at the night outside, not speaking for a while.
Margaret's joy passed quickly, and she didn't turn on the TV again, just sat alone on the bed, lost in thought.
The old house was silent for more than two hours, and Lin Hai had been quietly watching Margaret. Finally, he couldn't help but speak, "Marguerite, what are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking about a person." She slowly lifted her head, her expression very complicated. "You know who that person is, can you say his name?"
After hesitating for a few seconds, Lin Hai said the name - De La Mole.
This name pierced Margaret's body like an electric current, and she bit her lip and said, "Yes, I've remembered him."